Paddler Rajesh biggest buy at TTSL auction

CHENNAI: The second edition of the Table Tennis Super League (TTSL), organised by Indusports Leagues India under the auspices of TNTTA, will be held in Chennai from February 22-24 at the VR Chennai, Anna Nagar. 

At the players’ auction for the tourney, where 60 players were in the fray, Rajesh emerged the biggest buy and went for `60,000. He was followed by V Nitin Thiruvengadam, who was bought for `58,000. Among the women, T Reeth Rishya was picked for `33,000 and Seraha Jacob went for `32,000. Among the junior girls, Sharmitha and Kowshika Venkatesan were the most sought after and were picked for `31,000 and `25,500, respectively. Balamurugan went for `29,000 in the cadet category. 

The eight teams in the fray have been divided into two groups of four each. Each team will play all the other teams in their respective group once and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals. Noted coach S Raman and ace paddler G Sathiyan inaugurated the auction.

Tamil Nadu women lose

Sweet Beura’s unbeaten 44 paved the way for Odisha to beat Tamil Nadu by two wickets in the BCCI women’s U-19 Elite C Group one-day match held in Goa. Sweet and Taranna added 71 runs in 120 balls for the seventh wicket. Batting first, TN posted 162/9 in their 50 overs with the help of SB Keerthana, who  hit an unbeaten 76. 

In reply, Odisha chased down the target with eight balls to spare. KN Ramyshri was the pick of the bowlers for TN, with figures of 3/27.

Brief scores: TN 162/9 in 50 ovs (SB Keerthana 76 n.o) lost to Odisha 164/8 in 48.4 ovs (Sweet Beura 44 n.o; KN Ramyashri 3/27).

Manav steals limelight

Manav Parakh’s unbeaten 85 propelled St Bede’s to defeat Vidya Mandir A by 113 runs in a TNCA City schools U-16 match for the C Ramaswamy Trophy.

Brief scores: St Bede’s 272/6 in 50 ovs (Manav Parakh 85 n.o, S Sri Abisek 58, A Badrinath 36, G Vignesh 41) bt Vidya Mandir A 159/8 in 50 ovs (S Athreya Sudarshan 38 n.o, Ramnath Lakshminarayanan 33, Advaith Prahalad 31). The PSBB Millennium School 152 in 44.2 ovs (K Om Nithin 58, S Santhosh Kumar 36; S Ajay Kumar 3/20) lost to Don Bosco, Egmore 158/0 in 34.4 ovs (SR Athish 77 n.o, S Ajay Kumar 66 n.o).